Patrick’s Parabox

Patrick’s Parabox is a sokoban puzzle game that takes inspiration from the masterpiece Recursed to offer a different kind of recursion-based puzzles.

The goal is to put a box or a cube on top of each mark in the level, you then need to place yourself on the player mark to end the level. The cube you control can push any box as long as there’s no wall behind it. The boxes can contain a room, you can enter them if the middle of the box is open and the box can’t be pushed further.
The rooms contained in the boxes can also be the very same room you’re already in, recursion is at the center of this game… and it’s such a good core mechanic, it really makes you think in very unconventional ways.
Describing the other mechanics of Patrick’s Parabox is nearly impossible as there are tons of them (each world introduces a new one and deepens it) and I don’t want to spoil anything.
That creativity is really the strength of the game, it’s astonishing how diverse the puzzles are and the more you progress, the better they become; it’s very similar to Baba is You on this aspect (yes it’s that good).

The game is not designed to be very challenging though, it consists of hundreds of small and pretty straightforward puzzles. It also takes inspiration from The Witness for its puzzle structure, the main puzzles in each world are a multi-step tutorial. You can hardly get stuck on those, they really are extremely basic and meant to efficiently teach you the new stuff.
The true puzzles are the “challenge” optional puzzles, or in other words the normal puzzles. They are not difficult either, but offer more challenge and explore the subtleties of the mechanics.
It’s still a shame that there’s not a lot of very challenging puzzles, otherwise the game would’ve been perfect to me.

Patrick Parabox is a mind-bending gem, one of the most creative games I’ve played and a concentrate of fun.
A nearly perfect game and a must-play for any puzzle lover.

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Developer: Patrick Traynor
Publisher: Patrick Traynor
Platforms: Steam – Windows/Linux/macOS, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: March 29, 2022